"Lighten Up" Shabbat Dinner

Last Friday I had the opportunity again to participate in this year's Beth El "Lighten Up: Friday Night Invites."  It is a program that matches Beth El families with other families to create connections and friendships within our community.  It is a great program that has matched over 200 families with each other over the past few years.  (If you want to participate - either by hosting or being a guest, please contact the Beth El office.)  We had over a really nice family over that has a child around the same age as ours.  The kids played great together and the we really enjoyed meeting a nice couple to become friends with.  But this blog is about what I cooked!

I learned about this chicken dish on joyofkosher.com.  I have to tell you, when I read the recipe, I didn't think it would be anything special.  But for some reason, I still really wanted to make it. I am glad I did.  It was delicious and gorgeous.  It was also easier to make than I thought it would be.

Green Bean Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients:
6 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, tenders removed
1/2 cup Russian Dressing
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs or matzo meal
1/2 cup cooked green beans
Hot sauce, to taste
Salt/Pepper, to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Pound chicken cutlets to about 1/2 inch thick.  Marinate the chicken in the salad dressing with salt/pepper and hot sauce to taste for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.  Pour bread crumbs in a shallow bowl or dish.  Press the chicken, one at a time, into the bread crumbs so that one side of the chicken is coated.  Place some green beans (or any vegetable you have on hand) on one side of the chicken and roll the chicken up and place in a deep casserole dish, seam side down.  Repeat for all chicken breasts.  Bake in oven for 30 minutes and enjoy! 

Before cooking:

After cooking:

 

 

I wish I could have taken a picture of the chicken cut in half to show you how pretty it looked. 

 

Now, you will notice that before I mentioned to remove the tenders from the chicken breast.  With the tenders, I coated them in bread crumbs (without marinating in the dressing first) and fried them up as chicken nuggets for the kids in case they wouldn't eat the above.  Well, I'm happy to report that we had the chicken nuggets for lunch the next day because there were no complaints around the table.